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 Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:30 pm
3 hours, 10 minutes
Everyone is visibly more panicked now. The other moons chat anxiously around him, he sees two men, stoic and silent before, reach out for each other's hands in a knuckle-white grip.
A second rumble sounds, and Chris ******** swears it's getting closer, but they're still moving in the same direction. There's no where else to go but back.
They go forward.
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Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2015 2:57 pm
Scouting
"Still look better than you." Chel was pulling on her hair, trying to pull some of it out and only making it worse. Just her luck.
"That all of them? I wanna find a river to dunk my head in."
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:02 pm
3 hours, 37 minutes Cave in
The sound is deafening. One might expect the usual rumble of falling stone given by movies and tv shows, but being there in person... He had to cover his ears because it felt like too much.
A rock hit his ankle, just a small stray stone that didn't hurt so much as startle him.
Ava barked in his head, a solid command through the panic.
Chris stumbled back further. He tripped over a rock and was sent flailing to his a**, but he still wasn't safe. He scrambled back on his heels and elbows until Ava stopped chanting in his mind, and even then he still felt too close.
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:06 pm
3 hours, 20 minutes
The rumbling is near constant now, and some of the others have broken out into a jog. Chris finds himself trailing behind as he tries to think about where he's going, where they've been, what parts of the rocks around look familiar. He can still see the others, he's right on their heels, but he's taking up the rear.
He swears he sees a flash of something down another tunnel, but he can't stop to look.
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:09 pm
3 hours, 37 minutes Cave in
The biggest of the rocks must have already fallen, because the noise starts to settle into a dull rattling. Chris's ears are ringing and he's panting, no doubt a result of the panic and wild movements.
He doesn't dare get up yet, doesn't try to get closer. He'd rather wait until he's certain it's over. He curls in on himself on the cold hard floor of the cave and focuses on his (shaky, broken) breathing to drown out the sounds of collapse.
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 12:11 pm
3 hours, 37 minutes
The first rock falls, separating Chris from the rest of the team.
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Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2015 1:08 pm
After
He doesn't know how much time passes before he actually picks himself off the ground. He's covered in dust that comes away in a small cloud when he rubs a hand through his hair. He's got small scrapes on the heels of his palms but he suspects Ava's already working on them, because they don't sting as much as he thinks they should.
His flashlight is still gently rocking from side to side, closer to where the cave in was. It creates impossibly dark, shifting shadows between the rocks that make it appear all the more sinister.
He's afraid to approach the rough wall of rocks where the cave had fallen in. Mostly because he knows what he'll find. But he closes the distance and inspects it anyways. There's no light coming from anywhere between the rocks, which he assumes means that the rocks have pushed themselves together tight. He can't hear anything on the other side.
"Guys? Can you hear me?"
He waits, but there's no response. If they can hear him - if they're even still alive on the other side, and he shudders to think of the possibility that they're not - he definitely can't hear them. He thinks of the sound of those first rocks hitting Captain Beautiful, the face he'd made as he stumbled. His breath catches as he wonders if he'd made it to safety.
The rocks bite into his skin as he starts clawing them out of the way, uncoordinated and manic. They tumble to his feet, but no matter how many he displaces it doesn't feel like he's getting through. He's gotta get out, he needs to get to the other side and make sure they're okay, he needs to get out and get back with the team so that he'll be okay, because there's no way he can survive on his own when he doesn't even ******** know which way to go, he's got to -
Ava rumbles in his head.
Chris presses his forehead to the cool rocks and takes a stilted, but deep breath. It doesn't help. He feels ******** caged. And it's so ******** quiet now that the rocks have settled, now that he's not moving. Everything feels so ******** wrong.
"Right, another tunnel," his voice sticks in his throat and he nods, even though Ava knows what he's thinking anyways. It feels better to say it out loud. He doesn't move. In a ridiculous way, he's afraid to leave this pile of rocks. Going the other way feels less certain.
"Okay," he whispers. He picks up his flashlight in his shaking hand, tightens the straps on his backpack. He looks back at the debris one last time and then walks away.
He can find another way around, and then look for the rest of his team to make sure they made it out okay. He can do it. He was trained for this.
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 10:27 am
Some Hours
He loses track of time pretty soon after the event. The more he walks, the less certain he is of how long he's been going and where he is. He's getting tired, which he supposes means it's been a long time. But there's no reason to stop, so he keeps walking as his legs begin to ache.
He'll find something eventually.
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 10:58 am
Darkness Dementia Raven WayHis legs feel like jelly by the time he finally stops walking. He's gotten nowhere, as far as he knows. He's pretty sure he's passed the same crack in the wall like 20 times, but he just can't tell for sure. He leans heavily against the rocks and presses his forehead to the cool stone. He's so tired, and he has no idea what he's doing.
His flashlight flickers ominously and he shakes it, but that just makes it cut out completely. Everything goes pitch dark, and he has to summon Ava just to get the faint light from her runes.
"They were in someone else's bag, not mine."
"I ******** know," he hisses. He squints down the tunnel, and swears he sees a shadow.
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:09 pm
Vaguely Familiar
He keeps seeing the shadows. Just a little too far out of the small glow that Ava casts, something will move and disappear just as quick as it came.
He hears the quiet sound of someone laughing, like it's really far away.
It's eerily familiar.
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:29 pm
Vaguely Familiar
There's no helping it. He's exhausted, his legs are aching from so much walking, and his eyes are burning from how much he just wants to close them. He resigns himself to the fact that he's going to be spending at least a few hours in this ice cold hell hole sleeping.
Every ******** tunnel looks the same, so he doesn't even spend long deciding on where to sleep. he just lays down close to a while and uses his backpack as a pillow. Now that he's not moving the cold seems worse, and tugging his coat tighter around his body only does so much. He ends up curled in on himself with his hood pulled over most of his face, conserving as much body heat as he can. He keeps Ava summoned for easy access and for the little bit of comfort her rune light gives.
Just before he shuts his eyes there's a flash of pink that disappears before he really understands what he sees.
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:32 pm
Really ******** Familiar
It feels like he's barely shut his eyes before his stomach is waking him again. He groans as it growls loudly. "********," he hisses aloud, for what feels like the hundredth time. He hadn't even considered food. He's got a protein bar in his bag for the humans they were supposed to rescue, but that's it.
He spends a minute debating with himself in the quiet dark. If he eats the protein bar now, that's it, no more. But what are the chances he'll spend that much more time down here? The team knows he's gone, so they'll be coming back in force soon. They have to.
He fumbles for the bar in the dark and opens it with fingers weak from cold. It's small, but it should be fine. While he munches he goes through the other s**t in his bag. He's got a med kit, an extra shirt, a pocket knife, and 3 bottles of water.
It's... really not much. He drinks half a bottle of water in one go and tries to convince himself to get up. There's still a dull ache in his legs, and he's not quite rested, but he doesn't think he could fall back asleep if he tried.
"Poor kid, he's lost."
Chris's head snaps up and to the source of the voice. A few feet away, one of the Matthews is standing, head tilted and hand on his hip. Chris scrambles to his feet. "You found a way around the cave in? Where are the others?"
Matthews taps a finger against his lips. "The beautiful lady will be so disappointed. I'll get to comfort her and finally make her mine!"
Chris's brows furrow in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about? Just take me to Chel and she won't have to be disappointed about anything."
He snatches up his backpack by one strap and takes a few steps towards Matthews, but Ava shouts in his head. He stumbles to a halt, just as Matthews' head turns unnaturally quick to stare blankly at him with black eyes.
"You're not going back to Chel," he, it, spits. "You're lost here forever."
It disappears before Chris can take another step, and he's left staring dumbly at where it had stood. His stomach churns as he realizes that he's stuck alone with a ******** monster. One that can look like someone else, no doubt.
"It probably caused the cave in," Chris replies, voice small and worried with the realization. It had been planned.
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Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2015 7:53 pm
Going Crazy
There's nothing to do after the encounter but keep walking. He can't hunt it down when he doesn't know his way around, and he wouldn't even know what to look for in the first place.
Except now that it's show itself once, Chris swears he sees signs of it everywhere. He hears Captain Beautiful giving orders like he's just a few feet down the tunnel, his voice bouncing off the rock walls tauntingly. He sees the crisp white fabric of a hunter coat disappear around a corner. He sees pink everywhere, hears Chel's laugh, swears he ******** watches her peek at him around a bend.
He wants to tear his hair out.
The protein bar didn't last long. He's hungry a few hours (?) later, and quickly realizes he should have rationed better. The more he sees or hears familiar people the more he feels like he's never going to be rescued. They're all just ******** taunts thrown to lure him in and crush him again. He's going to be here for ******** ever.
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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 7:23 pm
Captain Beautiful
The creature doesn't make another real appearance until Chris is sitting down again, head hanging between his knees. He's tired, he's hungry, and he feels like the ******** walls are closing in around him, crushing him. He doesn't want to walk anymore, he feels like if he does he'll go ******** crazy.
There's a shuffling noise and he looks up, way up, to Captain Beautiful's face cast in the blue glow from his weapon. His eyes are hooded, but Chris can still see that they're unnaturally black. He tenses and brings his arms up, but with the monster looming over him like this he's trapped on the floor.
"You're trapped down here."
"Tell me something I don't ******** know," he snorts.
"You're never going to see them again. Never going to see her again. You'll die down here, and she'll never know what happened."
Chris grinds his teeth and averts his eyes. He knows this isn't CB. This is just some ******** imitation, a literal illusion to drag him down. But s**t if it doesn't make him panic to hear it all from a familiar face.
It's not like he hadn't been thinking the same thing anyways.
He makes a frustrated noise and kicks out at the monster in an attempt to bring it down. It stumbles, catching itself on the wall, and laughs. The sound starts normal, maddeningly similar to CB's laughter, but it breaks, becomes something dark and unhinged. It rings in his ears mocking him.
He tenses and lunges up, aiming to use his momentum to punch it. All he hits is air, as the monster is already gone, though it's laughter still bounces around him.
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Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2015 8:50 pm
Chelsea He sleeps, eventually.
It's fitful and anything but restful. He wakes up in a cold sweat more than once, panting despite the numbing chill in the air. He doesn't know whether the glimpses of familiar faces are the real thing or dreams anymore. Everything has black eyes and laughs at him, mocking him for his failing.
He's painfully hungry now, which he thinks is pathetic. It's been a couple days at most since the protein bar. He shouldn't be crippled by something so easily. Water helps for a few minutes, but he can't drink much because he's suddenly incredibly aware that he has to ration it out.
He stares into the darkness, but he can't muster up the strength to get up and keep walking. There's no point.
"Nothing's solved by walking aimlessly, either."
Chris groaned and scrubbed at his face with his hands. He felt disgusting. "There's no exit to find!"
"Talkin' to yourself's a bit crazy."
Chris's heart stops. He tilts his head slowly, until he's looking down the tunnel upside down. What he sees makes him want to throw up.
The monster's wearing Chel's face. It's crouched down, elbows on her - it's - knees, hands hanging loosely between them. It's head is tilted and it's smile... God it's smile looks just like hers. He can't tell from here but he knows her eyes are black.
He squeezes his eyes shut and wills his breathing into something resembling steady, even though his throat burns and he wants to drag in quick shallow breaths. It had been fine when it was Matthews. It had been okay when it was Captain Beautiful.
It's ******** devastating to see Chel.
There's a rustle of clothes and then heavy boot steps coming closer. "What's wrong? You look like ya seen a ghost."
"Shut up."
"Wow. This one's important to you," the monster laughed. Chris slaps his hands over his ears to stop the sound, because it breaks his heart. He doesn't want to hear Chel's voice before he dies. Certainly doesn't want to hear her laugh. It hurts too much.
An iron tight grip clamps around his wrist and pulls one hand away from his ear. "You can't escape this. Shouldn't've come down here if you didn't want to die like this. You're ********' dead."
Chris opens his eyes and he's face to face with it. It's so close their breath mingles in a fog between them. Black eyes bore into his, and he almost can't tear his gaze away. It's features are so ******** close to Chel's, almost picture perfect, but beyond the black eyes something else is off. It's uncanny valley, just a sick imitation that makes his stomach roil. He's looking at Chel, but he's not.
Chris hisses. He uses the hand that the monster isn't holding to swing hard, and his fist connects with a sick pop with the creature's cheek. It screeches a noise just slightly too animal to come from a human throat and yanks Chris's arm hard before letting him go. He cries out, but rolls to his feet.
"I was going to let you die like this. Going to watch you suffer and starve. But now I'll kill you myself," it says lowly. It's stare makes his skin crawl.
He's got his weapon out, but he hesitates to take another hit. It may not actually be Chel, but it really ******** looks like her.
I can't. I can't.
It gets tired of waiting for him and strikes out with claws that hadn't been there before. He hears more than feels his coat tear, but when his skin wells and begins to bleed he definitely feels the sting. He pushes it away weakly, but it comes back at him, rips at his shoulder. It gets right up in his face until it's so close he can smell it's rotten breath. "What did you call her? Chel? I bet she's crying right now. I bet she doesn't even know you're still alive, you've been down here so long. She's given up and considers you dead. And now she's all alone, and there's nothing you can do about it. She'll be alone forever because you couldn't make it out of here alive."
"God would you ******** SHUT UP." He finally strikes out with Ava, his blade sinking into skin and dragging across it's face. The new jagged red line mixes with the pale, mottled scars on her face and he chokes on panic.
He hurt her. Hehurtherhehurtherhehurther. ******** what's he going to do?
He can't. He looks at those scars and can't help but see the real Chel's face. He ******** up so bad.
Chel's face contorts in rage, made all-the-more macabre by the blood streaming down her face. Another not-human screech makes his ears ache and then something - claws, he's pretty sure - catches on his face with so much force it forces his chin back as it drags up from his jaw to his hairline. "Eye for an eye," Chel hisses.
He cries out, it hurts so bad. Something thick and wet trickles down his neck, and ******** that's blood. That's so much blood. He trips backwards, but Chel is still on him. She throws him against the cold stone walls and there's a loud snap before he crumples to the ground. He doesn't even know what broke, or if it was even a part of him.
Shock, he realizes. He can't feel it because he's going into shock.
Chel looms over him. "I told you, you're going to die down here," she laughs again, the same broken and inhuman laugh he'd heard from Captain Beautiful.
"Chel, p-please," he groans, his voice coming out heavy and slurred. It's hard to move his jaw.
Ava reminds him, a high-pitched growl in his head that stresses him out as much as everything else going on.
He must close his eyes, because he doesn't see her - it - walk away, but he hears footsteps and when he can see next, vision blurred and swimming, there's no one there.
As the pain finally sets in, radiating from his arm in hot white throbs, he blacks out.
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